Fun & Random Retail Therapy!

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who likes to live vicariously through other peoples shopping trips (helloooo YouTube haul videos!) and so today being a lazy Sunday, I had some free time to kill and thought I'd share mine with you guys! My son recently celebrated his 2nd birthday and yesterday went to see his father and celebrate again. This left me with the day free to engage in some "retail therapy"! I didn't head out with anything in particular in mind and some stuff may not be super exciting, but I figured.. hey, let's include all of it anyways. I'll try to keep it short and simple, hope you enjoy!

First stop was Bath & Body Works! I picked up three travel-sized minis as a gift for my Mom, she looves this scent. Body Wash, Fragrance Mist and Body Lotion in 'Sea Island Cotton', for $10. They smell like fresh air, clean towels and sea water!

These are seriously the best candles I've ever bought, they definitely live up to their hype. They scent the whole room, last FOREVER and are just gorgeous in every way. I chose 'Pink Sangria', which smells like sweet, sugary berries floating in pink lemonade, and also 'Sea Spray' which is a super clean, ocean-y scent with just a hint of sweetness. Normally I'm hesistant to buy these giant candles because they cost $22.50 each, but they were having a sale where you could get 2 for $25 plus %20 off the whole store on top of that. YES PLEASE.

This is where it gets random! My apologies that these pictures are pretty crappy, it's a lazy Sunday after all. haha Next up I went to Old Navy, they have the cutest clothes for little boys! Most of my sons clothes seem to be red, blue or green these days so I chose this outfit for him for the warmer weather coming up. Plus I think brown and tan colours make his bright blue eyes look extra handsome. :)

Also had to get this outfit for him! The Jungle Book is a classic and I still sing along everytime I hear "..look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities.." The t-shirt was a bit pricey, $14.95 for a toddler size, but totally worth it. These colours also hide dirt really well, especially helpful when they're into eveerryyything at this age. ;)

These tank tops are so comfortable, I could live in them. Most of my current ones are black or dark colours so I'm trying to venture into brighter, bolder colours for summer this year. It's actually quite a bit more vibrant than the picture shows, but pretty cute I think! They were on sale for maybe $6 so I may go back for a few other ones.

I'm a girly girl at heart, so I do love dresses and cute fluttery tops, but in all seriousness you'll find me in something like this most of the warmer days. Super comfy to run around the park, run errands, lounge around the house or throw over a bathing suit. The varsity style capris are fun and look great on virtually anyone! I love this shade of pink, it makes me look more tan than I actually am. :)

I almost forgot to add this in with my sons stuff! An adorable tan and orange Old Navy baseball cap that matches his Jungle Book outfit perfectly. Love it!

Ballet flats are another staple in my warm weather wardrobe, these ones from Old Navy were $20 and are a woven fabric with a leather bow. They go with almost anything and because they have a foam cushioned insole, they feel awesome even if you're out on your feet for 12 hours. I wish I rock the trendy summer heels but they just suck to walk in, hurt like nobodies business and make my daily tasks that much harder! I'm a flip flops and flats kinda girl for sure.

Sally's Beauty Supply was having a pretty awesome sale as well! Buy 2, get 1 free on all nail polishes. These mini polishes were only $1.29 each so I picked up 2 for my mom and 1 for myself. The bottles don't have names on them, so I can't tell you which they are exactly but the first is a dark, almost mermaid-tail green, second is a flourescent tangerine orange, and third is a royal purple with green and gold duochrome. The orange one is mine!

Also grabbed 3 China Glaze polishes, 2 for me and 1 for my mom. The first is a gorgeous, deep shimmery blue called Blue Iguana, second is a matte neon pink called Pink Voltage and third is a matte neon green called In The Lime Light. The part that bothers me is the neons don't say anywhere on the bottle that they are matte, and it's a texture that can be pretty hard to work with. Dries up quickly, streaks and looks clumpy easily. I was a little disppointed to try one and see it go flat quickly, but with a quick swipe of top coat, they were bright, gorgeous and shiny! A little too much for fingers but I'm all about neon toes in the summer.

I saved the best for last! (sorry about the strange reflections) I watch YouTube beauty gurus on a regular basis and have wanted this palette for probably close to 3 years, but for some reason could never bring myself to spend the $60. Sounds kind of ridiculous when you consider how easily I can toss away $60 on other things that wouldn't last half as long!

Every single colour is absolutely stunning, and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to finally jump on the bandwagon. The picture doesn't do justice but there are amazing bronze, brown, rose, black, cream and more in every beautiful finish imaginable. The possibilites are truly endless and I will probably be using it everyday. It also came with a mini Primer Potion, which I already use daily, and a professional Good Karma eyeshadow brush. It used to come with a double sided eyeliner, so it's a little bittersweet to not have that instead, but I'm totally in love regardless and most definitely say it's a must have if you wear any makeup whatsoever.

So that's all for this shopping trip. It's funny how you can be out for hours and feel like you spent a months wages, but then when you narrow it down, it doesn't seem like you bought much at all. I hope you had fun reading, or at least enjoyed wasting a few minutes of your time!  ;) Have a fantastic day!

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything shown was purchased by me, with my own money and all opinions are my own.

Review! - Scentsory Overload [Homemade Soy Candles & Tarts]

If you've ever read my blog before, know me in person or even just spoken to me for a minute, you'd probably know my 2 biggest addictions currently are Fortune Cookie Soap and any sort of candles/tart melts. So when I found out one of my new "Fortunefreak" friends, Mandi, had begun creating her own homemade candles and tarts, I couldn't pass them up! Mandi and her husband, Ryan, are the proud new owners of Scentsory Overload, and 2 of the nicest, funniest and sweetest people I've had the opportunity to meet and interact with online. [Side note: They also have some of the most creative and hilarious product review videos ever!]


I love candles and how they look and last, but I tend to lean more towards tarts nowadays. I think it's half convenience and half fear of commitment. Not sure about you guys but burning the same $20 three wick candle for aaaages gets a little tiresome. I was excited to find Scentsory Overload offers a pretty awesome selection of different scented tarts at a fantastic price.. I chose 6 different packs containing 6 cubes each and still paid less than the price of one of the aforementioned fancy schmancy candles! Score!

It wasn't too hard for me to choose which scents I was most excited for, as they even have a few like 'Blueberry Flapjacks' and 'Loopy' which correspond perfectly with some of my favourite Fortune Cookie Soap products! Of course I got those 2, as well as 'Honey Coated Sunset', 'Forbidden Fruit', 'Honeymoon in Paris' and 'Lemon Poppy Seed'. Just in case you don't have alot of experience with candles and tarts, really good quality natural soy wax tends to be slightly crumbly, easy to break and sometimes has a white cast when set. These attributes, that sometimes make people question quality if they aren't used to it, are actually the ones you should look for to know you're getting a good, clean-burning and no-yuckiness-added home fragrance product.

Honey Coated Sunset

This has to be my absolute favourite of the 6 I bought, it's pretty darn close to Lushs super popular 'Honey, I Washed the Kids' scent, but less fake and syrupy, and more natural. To me, this smells just like an organic baby lotion I used to have when my son was a newborn. It's like oatmeal, honey and a warm hug all wrapped up in a little wax cube! This is one of those scents everybody on the planet would enjoy and find comfort in, HIGHLY recommend!

Blueberry Flapjacks

Mmmm.. I could eat these! They're a gorgeous shade of blue and you can literally hold it to your nose, close your eyes and smell the pancakes, the hint of warm butter and the gooey maple syrup individually. I bet if you have kids and threw one of these in the warmer before you made your morning coffee, they'd be out of bed in 2.5 seconds to see what you were making for breakfast that smelled so delicious!

Lemon Poppy Seed

In all honesty, I'm usually not a lemon fan (tends to remind me of household cleaners) and so I chose this one for my mom. She loves lemon! However, I was pleasantly surprised and haven't been able to bring myself to actually hand it over! hah :) It has a really warm, sweet cake scent that mellows out the crisp lemon. I could probably eat this one too, very yummy and another perfect morning pick-me-up scent. 

Honeymoon in Paris

I chose this upon hearing it was described as a very romantic scent, and it definitely is! Very fresh, soft, feminine and floral. I was instantly drawn to the scent the first time I smelled it, thinking to myself.. I've smelt this before! I must have racked my brain for hoursss trying to think of where unti it hit me. I used to buy a hair deep conditioner by Pantene Pro-V, it was for medium-thick hair and came in a square, white jar with a black lid. This scent smells exactly like it! It's truly intoxicating and I plan to slather my hair in conditioner, light the warmer and fully enjoy some "me" time basking in this scent.

Forbidden Fruit

With so many smooth and sweet fruity scents going around these days, it's refreshing to discover one that has some bite to it! I'm terrible at picking out individual notes, but all I can say is this is tart, crisp and a little bit edgy. If you love apple scents, this is a must have, especially for the upcoming hot weather! Makes me want to sit outside on a balmy afternoon and sip a frozen, fruity apple drink.

Loopy

If you`re a Fruit Loops fan, this is undeniably the one to stock up on! It was the 2nd one I tried and my whole livingroom smelled like there was fruity cereal ground into the carpet, under the couch cushions, glued to the walls, etc.. You get the drift! It`s sugary-sweet, fun and dead on like you stuck your face right in the box and accidentally snorted a handful of the cereal dust from the bottom of the bag. I didn`t have to tell anyone who came in my house what it was, every single person knew instantly!

These tarts have an amazing scent throw, whether solid in their package or simmering away in the warmer. They are super easy to break apart, have lasted longer than many others I`ve tried and have such fun, vibrant colours and labelling. I highly recommend purchasing some for yourself, and I can`t wait to add some more new scents to my Scentsory Overload collection! Check out the links below to grab your own, and give them a like on Facebook, they`re super friendly and constantly posting new products and ideas!

Scentsory Overload on Facebook

Scentsory Overload Website

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything shown was purchased by me, with my own money (except 1 pack of tarts I received free, in exchange for some handmade clay charms I had sent!) and all opinions are my own.

World's Biggest Skincare Junkie + Favourite Product!

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I am a skincare junkie. My skin has it's bad days and also it's good but all-in-all, we aren't really friends. I've emptied my wallet, and cluttered my bathroom counter on a regular basis for quite some time now. From $5 cleansers at my local Walmart, to driving an hour to the nearest Sephora and forking out over $40 for a certain moisturizer, I've tried it all!

A little background on my skin. Growing up, I was pretty fortunate to have a normal, cooperative complexion. I wasn't too dark or too pale, didn't burn super fast, held a nice tan in the summer and have always been dotted with just enough freckles to be flattering and not obnoxious. Even as a teenager it was never something I spent much time worrying over, I could go to class with or without makeup on and feel totally comfortable either way. Fast forward to the age of 22, in 2009 when I became pregnant with my son, it all went downhill from there. Apart from wreaking havoc on my otherwise healthy hair and nails, my skin was hit the hardest. My nice, worry-free skin was no more. Instead I was faced with red, flaky and very irritated dry patches on the sides of my face, horrible clusters of cystic acne on my cheekbones and terrible oiliness on my t-zone.

I was very skeptical about what kinds of treatments and products I felt safe using on my skin during my pregnancy, and so I basically just spent half the time trying to cover it, and the other half just putting up with it. My son will be turning 2 next week and although it's progressively easier to deal with, my skin never went back to it's previously perfect and manageable self. This beginning my skincare addiction. Whenever I found something that seemed to work for a certain issue, it quickly posed problems in different areas or stopped working all together. Now I'd like to share something that has literally changed my life!

I've blogged about them before and will probably continue to share their amazing products as long as they continue making them! They are Tanya and Val, a wonderful mother and son pair who run a company called Me And The Boy. They make beautiful handmade jewelry, accessories, home decor, candles as well as bath and body products. Everything I've tried has been gentle, fragrant and simply luxurious, but there is one thing in particular that captured me right from the beginning - Mineral Mud Masks.

It was my Mom who discovered Me And The Boy and she who first ordered a 4 oz jar of Mineral Mud for herself. Not only was her jar packed to the brim with fragrant, rich mud, but she was even made a custom blended fragrance suited exactly to her tastes. I got the chance to try it and needless to say, she never saw the jar again! (Sorry Mom! :)

This stuff is unbelievable. It's strong enough to be aromatherapeutic, but not overpowering whatsoever. It goes on very thick, but is super easy to spread and a little goes a LONG way so the jar lasts for ages. It's the first mud mask I've ever used that dries quickly and completely but doesn't flake off and make a huge mess of me, my clothes and my bathroom. I splash my face with warm water, spread it on and soak in the tub for 20 minutes, I find the steamy air really lets the goodness sink in!

It's so easy to rinse off and I'm not stuck scrubbing chunks out of my hairline or out of my nose. (Gross, I know.. but it happens!) What I'm left with is baby soft skin with no redness, no flaky patches and no oil slick. I swear it intuitively caters to each area of my face, providing nourishment in dry spots and toning down oil and acne in unruly spots. I find afterwards, my skin readily absorbs my moisturizer better and my makeup goes on so much smoother. I could literally go on for days at how thankful I am for this stuff, and also the fact that at $9 for a 4 oz jar, it's like getting months of spa treatments for pocket change!

At this moment, my bathroom counter is still cluttered with tons of high end and drugstore skincare products, but if I had to recommend just one, this would be it. Me And The Boy just released their brand new website, check out the link below to see where you can get some of this amazing stuff for yourself!

Me And The Boy on Facebook

Me And The Boy Website

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything mentioned was purchased by me, with my own money and as always these opinions are completely my own! :)